Ben Stiller has confirmed that he is back together with wife Christine Taylor five years after they called it quits.

The pair tied the knot in 2000 one year after they met and went on to appear in films including Zoolander and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Stiller announced in May 2017 that they had separated.

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However, in a new interview, the Meet the Fockers star announced that he and Taylor had reconciled after he moved back into their family home with their two kids, Ella, 19, and Quinlin, 16, at the beginning of the pandemic.

"Then, over the course of time, it evolved," he told Esquire. "We were separated and got back together and we're happy about that."

"It's been really wonderful for all of us. Unexpected, and one of the things that came out of the pandemic," he added.

Elsewhere in the interview, Stiller admitted that Ella had called him out for "not being there" during her childhood.

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"It's hard to hear because it’s me not being there in the ways that I saw my parents not being there," he said. "And I had always thought, 'Well I won't do that.'"

Stiller added that he was "trying to navigate my own desire to fulfill the hopes and dreams I had. And that doesn't feel great, but it's important to acknowledge."

Stiller then came up with an analogy involving horseback riding to describe how his views on marriage have changed over the past few years.

"A few years ago, I realized I don’t like horseback riding. If there's an opportunity to go horseback riding, I’m probably not going to do it. Now, I like horses! I think they’re beautiful. I like petting them," he added.

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Stiller went on: "I like watching people ride horses, I like watching my kids ride horses. I just don’t really love riding horses. And once you know that, it just saves a lot of energy.

"So, yeah, I think we have a respect for the ways that we're similar and the ways we're different. And I think accepting that, you can really appreciate someone more because you’re not trying to get them to change for you. Once you accept that, you save a lot of energy."

"Once you accept that, you save a lot of energy. This is something that works for me; this is something that doesn't work for me. If you have that trust level with your partner, you know that me saying: 'I don't like doing that thing' is not me saying: 'I don't like you,'" he added.

Featured image credit: Erik Pendzich / Alamy

Ben Stiller announces that he's back together with wife Christine Taylor after 2017 split